Direct Label Printing

Direct Label Printing enables seamless shipment import and printing.

Prerequisites

• Valid API key and access to the DHL Parcel API Gateway
• Folder with write access when using CSV importing
• Zebra printer for printing labels

Connection

When starting DHL Direct Printing for the first time the API needs to be configured

API

To get an authentication token, you will need the user-id and user key for your application. These unique values can be generated under the user account on the My DHL-Parcel Application page.

By selecting ‘Settings’ in the user dropdown menu and clicking the button ‘CREATE API KEY’ in the tab ‘API KEYS’, the user-id and key are generated. Hold on to this information, since it will only be given out once. When pressing the button again, a new user-id and key will be generated, overwriting and invalidating the previous one.

Proxy sever

In case the connection to the DHL API Gateway needs a proxy server, it can be configured here.

Debug

Enable debug mode for resolving issues.

WARNING: Sensitive data will be logged to an insecure location, only enable this issue briefly to investigate issues.

Enabling debug mode has the following effects:

• More detailed logging, including all API calls with security credentials.
• Allows overriding the base URLs for every service from the default value; make sure to specify a valid DHL API Gateway URL.
• Enables print to folder, which will download label PDFs instead of printing labels.

Services

Manual printing

It is possible to manually print labels by providing a piece tracker code. A virtual label printer needs to be selected. To print directly to a physical printer, a printer needs to be selected in the Virtual printer section.

The tracker code can be provided by:

• manually entering the tracker code into the input field push ENTER.
• placing the cursor into the input field and using a barcode scanner. If possible, configure the scanner to send ENTER key after the barcode.
• scanning a barcode when the application window is open. The scanner should send ESCAPE key as prefix and ENTER key as suffix.

CSV importer

The CSV importer watches a directory. Any file with the .csv extension will be processed. Additional directories will be created when CSV importer is started

• done will contain files that were successfully imported.
• failed will contain files for which the import failed.
• log will contain a list of processed rows with shipment information if available or any error for that row.

The selected import schema will be used for the import. In addition to the default schema, new schemas can be created in MDP.

A virtual label printer needs to be selected to import shipments and print labels. To import drafts, the virtual label printer can be set to None.

Importing drafts or shipments using the CSV importer, will have the same effect as importing manually using MDP.

Virtual printer

A virtual printer can be registered by starting the virtual printer service. A single Direct Label Printing instance represents a single virtual printer.

• A name needs to be provided to identify this instance.
• A physical printer needs to be selected.

When selecting a printer, we can detect Zebra USB printers or network printers in the same network segment. The IP address for a network printer can also be entered manually.

After starting the service for the first time, the virtual printer can be selected in Manual printing and CSV importer. A refresh of the virtual printer list may be required.

It is also possible to print labels from MDP directly to your virtual printer.

Types of virtual printers

OS Printer

Uses the Operating System driver to print labels.

Requirements:

• The printer driver (from https://www.zebra.com/) needs to be installed on the operating system and be configured correctly.

This option uses the printing pool of the OS for queuing and managing print jobs.

Download

Instead of printing the label this option will download the label as PDF or ZPL file to a folder of your choice.

Zebra USB

This option uses the embedded Zebra SDK to print labels to a Zebra printer connected via USB.

Requirements: None

Note: no print pool is used. This may cause issues when printing many labels in quick succession.

Zebra network

This option uses the embedded Zebra SDK to print labels to a Zebra printer connected via the network.

Requirements: None

Note: no print pool is used. This may cause issues when printing many labels in quick succession.

Configuring the virtual printer in MDP

After starting the virtual printer service, the virtual printer can be selected in MDP under Settings - Printer & labels